Secrets of the Goddess
by aph fish and chips
Summary: Do you ever wonder if anyone witnessed Katsuragi's conquests? This the story of how Sayuri Nakamura, an ordinary gamer, takes a turn for the supernatural.
1. Chapter 1

Secret of the Goddess

Chapter One

I was simply perched on a branch in the tree to escape gym class; I had no idea that just sitting there would change my life forever. I am Sayuri Nakamura, and I am a huge fan of dating simulators, and am known as the "Goddess of Conquest" in the gaming world. I have beaten 3,642 dating games, and my goal is to reach 10,000 before the end of high school. This is the story of how my normal, unsocial life took a turn for the supernatural.

It was a lovely day. The wind gently passing through the leaves of the tree I was sitting on created a serene rustling noise as the leaves brushed against one another. Instead of taking advantage of the perfect weather, I sat there, being my normal, secluded self and played dating sims. The class thought that I was "weird" and "geeky", but at least I was not the only one. There was this one boy in my class; his name was Keima Katsuragi. He was a lot like me, and spent his day playing dating sims instead of what he was supposed to be doing. All of our class mates thought that we were a "future couple", but we both agreed that our boyfriends and girlfriends would always remain virtual. I noticed that the ruckus caused by the PE class had vanished, and that it was time to go home. I started climbing down the tree, then I saw one, no two, people moving in the corner of my eye.

I would have ignored them, but it was quite suspicious that they were not sprinting home along with the rest of the class. I climbed back up and quietly watched them converse. It was a girl and a boy, and judging by the short hair, thin headband, and thick ankle wrap, it was Ayumi Takahara. She was one of the more popular girls, the kind that does not talk to the "lower class" people. I recognized the boy, but could not quite identify who he was. He was not very popular, judging by his messy hair, nerdy glasses, and the PFP hanging out of his back pocket. No, it couldn't be… but who else other than Katsuragi and I would be carrying a PFP in their pocket? I looked closer at the mysterious boy, and I confirmed that he was Katsuragi by catching him nudge his glasses up his nose using his pointer and middle fingers; classic Katsuragi.

As my head went insane frantically flipping through reasons why Katsuragi would be there after school talking to a popular girl, their heads inched together. I was sure they wouldn't kiss; I mean, a popular girl with Katsuragi would just never work. I studied them, and I watched their every move. Katsuragi slightly leaned forward, Ayumi's hand twitched, Katsuragi slowly closed his eyes, Ayumi leaned back and put her hands into fists, their lips moved in unison, and then they…

Katsuragi x Ayumi. That had to be one of the most impossible and unlikely couples. To see them kiss, and to see the happiness sparkling in their eyes, was a huge shocker. It was almost as perfect as a dating sim ending; the ugly dweeb playing the game ends up with the most handsome and/or beautiful character in the school. I was so engulfed in my thoughts that I had not noticed that the new student, Elsie, was there with some funky glass jar. She was levitating, and I thought that the world had just gone mad. I went home thinking that I was having hallucinations from gaming too much.

The next day at school, I ran into Ayumi in the hall. Quite literally. I had made her drop her books on the floor, and I felt bad so I helped gather them up. I had an urge to mention something about the kiss the day before. "Congrats on the kiss!" I grinned.

She stammered, "What?"

I remembered that she had not seen me in the tree and that she most likely purposely kissed Katsuragi in private. I quickly made up by giggling and saying, "Oh! Wrong person! I thought you were… someone else." I was relieved when she looked at me with a smile. I handed her the text books that she had dropped, and I moved on to class.

As I strolled home, I thought of other unlikely couples within the grade. For example: Mio dating one of the poor boys who can only go to the school because of a scholarship, or Chihiro staying with a boy for more than a week. I giggled to myself; the thoughts were just painfully hilarious for me to bare. I continued on my journey home, and I saw Mio in a yard. She was talking to someone, but why was she standing in front of such a small apartment? She was probably just bragging about some new luxuries that she had recently acquired to the poor boy. I thought that it wouldn't hurt to eavesdrop a little, so I slipped to the crumbling gate and held my ear up to it.

"You cannot tell anyone that I live here." I was sure that I had misheard something or that I misinterpreted the sentence. There was _no way_ that the richest girl in the grade, no, the _school_ , lived in such a decrepit place. I continued listening. The boy murmured something.

"I promise I will not tell a soul." I recognized the voice. Someone from my class. But no, it couldn't be!


	2. Chapter 2

Secrets of the Goddess

Chapter 2

Katsuragi, it had to be him. I did not know anyone in the class that had a voice that was in any way as enchanting as his. I wanted to stay longer to hear Mio's reason for living in the decayed apartment complex, and to find out why Katsuragi was talking to people. I felt guilty though. I knew that it was none of my business to know what was wrong with Mio and Katsuragi. I turned the corner and saw Elsie, the girl who was… flying the day before. She was holding the same jar, but it seemed to be empty. Her head slowly started turning towards me, so I made a run for it. I sprinted home and locked myself in my room.

There were so many questions yet to be answered, so many mysteries waiting to be solved! I wanted to go back and find out what was wrong with Mio and why Katsuragi started flirting all of a sudden, and I had never felt such an urge before. All I had ever felt was determination to defeat the boys in my games. With this new feeling, I felt invincible. My life was about to begin, and not because the handsome prince was about to save me from my tower, but because I was willing to jump from the top floor.

I had to talk to Katsuragi, even if it meant I had to get him by force. I came to school prepared with a dangerous weapon in my pocket: a camera. I strode to school, brimming with determination, but at the same time, felt very awkward. Since the camera was in my skirt pocket, where I would normally keep my PFP, I had to leave it at my house. My fingers flipped the camera back and forth as I scanned my surroundings for any signs of Katsuragi. Of course, it did not take a long time for me to find one. And it was a big one.

Around the corner and across the street went Katsuragi pulling a carriage with his bike. In the carriage sat the posh Mio, shooting looks of hatred and disgust out of her gleaming eyes at anyone who was staring. That was more suspicious than Katsuragi kissing Ayumi! I had to get to the bottom of it. I crept behind the carriage and listened in on their conversation. Mio said something about sandwiches, while Katsuragi continued pedaling without saying a word. Elsie was there as well, hiding in a bush, thinking that no one would notice her peeking through the greenery.

I was not getting any good information from listening to that brat babble. I slowly and stealthily slipped behind the bush. I crept towards Elsie to ask her why she was flying the other day, but as I got close to her, an old man stepped out of house and demanded, "Get out of my bush, or I will call the police!" Elsie and I quickly leaped out of the bush. That was the last that I saw of her that morning. I was thinking of asking her in class, but remembered that the class would be suspicious of both me _and_ Elsie if we were seen talking to each other. I decided to try again with Ayumi and warn her that Katsuragi was cheating on her. I pulled her aside at the end of second period.

She had a look in her eye. The kind of look that you give someone instead of straight out saying, "Why are you touching me?" or the classic "Stranger danger!" I had gotten that look many times and knew exactly how to deal with it.

"Look, I normally do not talk to people like you, but I need to tell you something."

"What would that be? And make it quick, I have to go to a doctor's appointment."

"I will. Here we go…" I muttered under my breath. " Keima Katsuragi has been flirting with Mio and I thought you should know because you kissed him…"

Ayumi's face went blank for a second; confusion registering in her features. Suddenly, she burst into a fit of laughter. "You are hilarious! Me and Katsuragi… Ha! Like that's ever going to happen. Well, I better get going. Bye!"

"But…" I attempted to stay something, but embarrassment was clogging my vocal chords. I threw my hand at her in an attempt to earn her attention for at least another short moment, but was slightly off timing, too late. I had failed. Why was she not listening to me? I wished that I was invisible. That I could disappear whenever I wanted to as if I did not even exist. I could warn Ayumi using signals and mysterious messages. Most odds were against that though. I could not do anything to help her if she kept ignoring me, but I could help Mio before it was too late.

I shuffled home that evening, drowned in my thoughts, wondering why Katsuragi had suddenly become so social. I did not desire to waste my non-existent intelligence on the matter, since I had so many better things to do with my life… well, maybe I did not. I simply played games, hid in trees, and got abused by my grandmother. These events with Katsuragi were the only things making my life interesting. I conjured up ways to warn Mio without embarrassing myself.

Thankfully, I came up with a plan and was prepared to go through with it. It was sandwich day, and I knew that Mio would be buying more than half of them. I was going to sneak behind the booth, and slip a note into one of Mio's sandwiches saying "meet me on the roof at 3:00". To my surprise, she did not buy a sandwich. I thought that she might be running a little late, so I gave the note to one of the workers at the sandwich booth and asked him to give it to her. I crept up to the roof and climbed into a tree. Of course, I saw a familiar face.

Katsuragi, on a bench, watching Kanon Nakagawa, the biggest idol in Japan, sing. Seeing the two of them was a huge shocker. The way that Kanon looked at him as she sang gave me the feeling that she was extremely committed to impressing Katsuragi. That was very strange for someone with such high social status. I watched her serenade him as I thought about what he must have done in order to get a private concert from Kanon. I studied her: the direction she looked, the lyrics she sang, the way she was swaying back and forth, and then I discovered what Katsuragi had done. He had pulled off a classic way of getting the heroine in a dating simulator. He had discouraged Kanon so much that she wanted to show him what she was really capable of. If that was actually the case, then according to a typical dating sim case, Katsuragi was quite far from getting her to kiss him, and he would most likely be attending some concerts of hers in order to build the relationship.

I knew that I would have to go to Kanon's concert in order to see Katsuragi, so I bought one of her extremely expensive tickets and waited in a very long line behind some crazy fans for the doors of the auditorium to open. When I got in, the voice on the loud speaker announced that Kanon was having some delays and that the show would start later than expected. " _Katsuragi must be with her,_ " I thought to myself. As much as I wanted to investigate, I could not stand the noisy crowd. I took a step outside and sat on a bench by the street until the show began.

I saw a colorful wispy figure crawling around the auditorium wall. I could not tell what it was exactly, but judging by the pink, baby blue, and yellow coloring, I had a good idea of what, rather _who_ it was.


	3. Chapter 3

Secret of the Goddess

Chapter 3

The pastel colored wisp was curled up on the bench and crying. That wisp was Kanon. My brain automatically began to generate reasons why Kanon would be hiding during one of the biggest concerts of her life. The most logical reason was that there was some type of danger and Kanon was hiding in order to escape, and the flickering lightbulbs on the street gave her a "wispy" effect. If there was danger, then it was in my best interest to hide as well. I crawled under the bench across from Kanon's and was planning on staying there until help came. It never did.

The only person that came was Katsuragi. He sat on the bench to my left and chatted with Elsie, but did not notice me nor Kanon. Then, I heard a noise. It sounded like it was saying "Toradora" repeatedly, and I realized that the sound was accompanied by the flashing of Elsie's hair clip. It seemed that I was not the only one alarmed by the noise. Katsuragi and Elsie moved towards Kanon. She became slightly less "wispy" and more visible. Katsuragi crept up to her and they babbled on and on until Katsuragi made a move. At that point, I realized that there was no danger, help was not coming, the wispiness was not an effect, and Katsuragi had just kissed by the biggest idol in Japan. I was about to crawl out from under the bench, but realized that by butting in on the conversation, I would make Kanon late to her big night. So instead, I stayed put and watched Elsie take off and capture the creature that had shot out of Kanon. "Loose soul in custody!" she exclaimed.

I waited for Katsuragi and Kanon to leave then jumped out from under the safety of the bench and yelled, "Elsie! Come back!" She looked in my direction for a split second then flew away.

I got home very late that night, so I did not make as much progress on my dating sims as I wanted to. The whole find-out-what-is-going-on-with-Katsuragi thing was making me get farther and farther away from my goal. I would have normally played thirty dating sims a night, but for those few days, I had only been playing about five. I needed to end this. I could have just given up and let Katsuragi keep kissing one girl and cheating on another, but then I would be left with sorrow, guilt, and an urge to solve my ultimate curiosity.

The next day at school, I attempted to get an explanation from Katsuragi. I chased him after first period, but I did not catch him. I tried again at the end of lunch, and I had gotten close enough to say, "Katsuragi, you need to stop cheating on girls! You are leaving them so depressed that they won't talk about it."

"This isn't what it looks like." he pronounced with his charming deep voice. He quickly scurried on to third period and left me there with the most idiotic look on my face. I felt a deep and passionate anger at that moment. I could not believe that he would leave me hanging like that, so I decided to go relax at the library to clear my mind. I skipped class, but the teachers had gotten used to me doing that. I sat in a corner of the library and began to read a catalogue for gaming devices. I skipped third and fourth period. When class ended, I slowly crept out of the library.

I had not noticed that I was still holding the catalogue until a young girl's voice stuttered, "No t-taking books f-from the library without ch-checking them out! It… its, Its disrespectful."

"Oh, sorry," I stammered. "I forgot that I was holding…"

I trudged over to where I had grabbed the catalogue. The girl began a different conversation. After a minute or two of silence, I heard her yelling, "You're stupid!" in an angry yet soft voice. I wondered who else would be in the library at that time, so I slid behind a book shelf near where the voices were coming from. It was a male voice. A familiar male voice. Katsuragi.

I remembered that I was still holding the catalogue, so I went and put it away. I quietly slid it onto the shelf and sat on the floor adjacent to it. I waited for Katsuragi to leave, then ran up to the girl. I whispered, "You have to be careful with Katsuragi. I have seen what he is doing and you do not want to be part of it. He will make you fall in love and then break your heart." In response, she simply sat there with her nose in a book and did not acknowledge my presence in any way.

Before I left the library, I looked at the list of Library Club members. I knew that it would be helpful to know the girl's name if I was going to help her. One of the pictures was of a girl wearing two baby pink ribbons in her hair. The librarian was wearing bows just like that, so I assumed that it was her. Her name was Shiori Shiomiya. As I walked home, I brainstormed ways to get Shiori to listen to me. Book worms and gamers never really got along with each other, so that was out of the question. If I joined the library committee, I would be able to talk to her before, after, or during meetings. The problem was that I did not want to be stuck with having to attend meetings once a week when I should have been playing games.

I figured that maybe I could ask to join temporarily and only come to one meeting, or I could make them kick me out. I was normally not the mean and rude type, so I did not think that I could get kicked out very easily. But judging by the fact that I was about to join a club of book worm, I had a feeling that I would make it out somehow.

The next day I asked the leader if I could come to their meeting. She gave me an eager okay, but I had to contribute something to the meeting. I made a list of ideas that I could suggest to the library club. My favorite ended up being the library having a special area designated to CD's, DVD's, and games, so that modern techies like me could have our own place to enjoy. I was sure this idea would be a winner; great enough to let me withstand my position in the committee and inch closer to Shiori's bubble.

{[Hello! I will be at camp for a while so my next chapter will not be out for at least another two weeks. Sorry! Also, my apologies for taking forever to upload this chapter. I have not had internet for about three weeks… Anyways, please follow this story and if you are enjoying it, leave a like! If you have any advice for me, please leave a comment. ~aph fish and chips]}


	4. Chapter 4

Secret of the Goddess Chapter 4

I was extremely worried that day. I knew that the presentation of my idea would not start the apocalypse or anything along that line, but I did not want to disappoint Shiori and ruin all chances of getting her to open up to me. The butterflies in my stomach felt like they had wrecking balls for wings. I crept up to the library door, entered quietly and wondering if my worries had made me late to the meeting. "Sayuri! You made it just in time." The library club president's voice sounded harsher than the last time. I greeted everyone and took the one empty seat at the table. "Let us start off with… our newest member! Sayuri, is there anything you would like to contribute today?"

"Yes." The eyes at the table looked at me in shock. Was I not supposed to say that? Should I have waited until the next meeting to present my idea? At that point, there was no turning back. "Well, I was thinking that, well, being a gamer…" I cleared my throat. A few girls giggled, not realizing that I was not doing it for their amusement. "I was thinking that the library should have an area for people like me."

"Could you please get to the point?" announced the pestered president with a slight touch of anger in her voice.

"Oh, okay. I was thinking that we should have a section of the library with CDs, DVDs, and games." At that moment, in the corner of my eye, I saw Shiori's eyes begin to fill with a bitter sadness and a pinch of hatred. Oh crap. She stormed out of the room in her own quiet way. Everyone turned in shock.

"Well, I am sure glad she is gone… The girl does nothing but sit there and listen to our meetings. It is a little creepy if you ask me… What if she is some sort of spy or robot?!" Half the table giggled. I sat there in silence and disgust. "Well, back to Sayuri's idea. Personally, I love it. We only need a three fourths vote to approve something in the library club, so it doesn't really matter if pink bows is here or not. So, to the voting. All in favor of a new section of the library, say I."

The whole table said "I" in unison. Everyone but me. "Sayuri, aren't you going to vote for your own idea? I think its brilliant. It seems the rest of the club does too."

"Well, I guess it doesn't matter since the I's win it." said the girl across the table from me, giving me a small wink. The meeting ended shortly after. I wanted to find Shiori, but soon I remembered that I would probably never escape the eternal grudge she held against me since I had said those stupid words.

"See you at next week's meeting!" the girl sitting across from me screamed in my ear.

"I… don't think I can make it."

"Well, that's a bummer. See you around them?"

"Sure." I slowly crept towards the exit of the library.

The next day had been quite normal. I had gone to school, had an average day, and then walked home. Although, the day took a large turn at dusk. I received an urgent call from that girl who sat across from me the other day. "Sayuri! Come quick to the library! It is an emergency!" I had a feeling that there something must be up. Normal days had become abnormal for me.

I rushed to the library. "Is everything okay?"

"No! The passcode won't work!"

"Well, why did you call me?"

"Because of this." She motioned towards a sign taped to the door.

"It's from Shiori." I whispered to myself.

"Exactly. The rest of the library club is extremely disrespectful to her, but I saw a look of guilt in your eye when she left the meeting. I personally think that she is a sweet girl. I do not want for her to get in trouble with the rest of the library club. Please don't tell them about this."

"I would nev-"

"What the hell is going on here?!" screamed the president, walking up behind us with a crew of people.

"What do we do?" I whispered.

"It's no good. Just tell them everything."

The group approached us. We explained everything and showed them the sign taped on the door. This was all my fault.

As everyone pounded on the innocent library door, I heard faint voices coming from the roof. "We need to figure out what she's trying to accomplish. Yup, that's the strategy." I found an excuse to leave and carefully planned a way to reach the roof. I was about to begin climbing, then thought "What if someone sees me?" and "What if I fall?" I was tempted to get the girl, who I still had not learned her name. If she trusted me, I could probably trust her. But getting her would involve seeing the rest of the library club which I did not want to do. I decided that I would just have to take some risks.

At the end of the climb, I spotted Elsie and Katsuragi. They were obviously plotting something, and I figured that it was best for me to stay hidden and not interrupt. I was too tired to put any effort into listening in, so I just stayed hidden. Until, I heard the shatter of the concrete library roof. I jumped out of my hiding and realized that Katsuragi was gone. Elsie was too worried about Katsuragi that she did not notice me casually finding a new and more comfortable hiding spot.

I sat there, my eyes on the hole. Nothing happened. I waited and waited, until finally something happened. Elsie sat down. The endless waiting continued. Elsie suddenly sprung to her feet and to my surprise, another massive creature came out of the hole. It was just like what I had seen happen to Kanon.

This was obviously not like what I suspected. I ran through hundreds of possibilities in my head, but nothing quite made sense. This was obviously something supernatural. After seeing the creature come out of Kanon, I figured it must be the same for all the other girls Katsuragi and Elsie were with. What if the creatures were all of the despair in their lives? When they were with Katsuragi, they left the girls and made their lives better. If that were the case, I would have already had one.

My family was always a bit… interesting. Both of my parents died in a car accident. The pain was too much for me to handle. So, I gave up. I attempted to cover the thoughts and pain with a new hobby, so I got into dating sims. Everything was going well for a while. I was living with my incredibly sweet aunt and uncle. I was not at my highest point at the time, but I was at least a little happy. Until, one day, possibly the lowest point in my life, my aunt sat down with me in the living room. Her face looked as if she were in the middle of a major war, watching all the others die. She explained to me that there was something wrong with my uncle. He was in the hospital and would probably never come out again. She burst in to tears. I remember that day so clearly because it was when it began. It was the day I moved in with my grandmother.

Apparently there had been some agreement saying that if anything happened, I would move in with my grandmother. Her house was nice. Porcelain decorated the walls and it always smelled of fresh mochi. I was actually excited to live with her. Within a few days, my opinion of her completely changed. She began yelling at me almost every time she saw me. Sometimes, she would go so far to hit me. I did whatever I could to get away from her. I begged my aunt to take me back. But nothing changed. I was stuck with her.

I finally managed to come up with a way to avoid her. I spent as much time as I could away from the house, and when I was home, I would lock myself in my room and play dating sims. It was a simple plan, but it was successful. I guess it is all thanks to those hours locked in my room that I received the title, "The Goddess of Conquest".

I glanced to my right and spotted Katsuragi dangling from Elsie's pink scarf. The two of them flew away. "Katsuragi! Elsie! Wait!" I exclaimed. Katsuragi's eyes caught mine and a look of surprise hit his face. He said something to Elsie and the two of them flew off even faster.

* * *

I went home and locked myself in my room as usual. Outside of my window I spotted Elsie and Katsuragi tip-toeing down the street. I considered sneaking out the window, but decided it was not worth it. Plus, I could almost guarantee that the next day would be just as abnormal.


End file.
